{Text} Along with the prepared speech, Samdech Techo made the off-the-cuff elaborations as followed:
“Thank you, peace, amen,” – in 98 days from today, we will head to the SEA Games in the Kingdom of Cambodia!
[Elaboration 1]
[..]. Thank you to all the Christians who have contributed to the preservation of peace and who have been involved in the fight against Covid-19 so far and for the development of the Kingdom of Cambodia. I have said many times that racial and religious differences are not an obstacle to national development. Do not force this/that person to believe in this religion, that religion, or this denomination or that denomination. It is not possible. We all remember that we have tied our destiny together from the past to the present […]
[…] Our memories of the past, dating from 1923 to the present, are 100 years old. What has Christianity gone through in the last 100 years? No different to other religions, Buddhism and Islam, Christianity has also experienced wars, the aftermath of the Pol Pot genocide, and the aftermath of the war. That is the link between the fate of all religions, all nations living in Cambodia with its peace and development. When we suffer, we all suffer. Through this, you can understand that January 7 is not only a revival of human life, but also a revival of all religions, including Christianity […]
[…] The hard-won peace that we have scored is not just for Buddhism, the state religion or for anyone. We, including Christianity, have all benefited from peace through win-win politics. We must unite to maintain the hard-won peace, and the “thanks for peace” slogan has been echoing throughout the Kingdom of Cambodia. Have you all here, though not as numerous as Buddhism, seen what happened to the Christians in Ukraine? Have you seen the tragedy that befell a country at war, in which Christianity also suffers? For Cambodia, now under the shadow of peace, we are reaping the benefits […] so use the full potential of peace to ensure our development […]
[Elaboration 2]
At this point, today’s meeting also confirmed the necessary presence, a point that I think we need to continue to strengthen this spirit. There are indeed civil servants or members of the armed forces who have faiths in Christianity, but have you ever seen, in Cambodia, anyone has been expelled from the state institutions because of that person’s faith? Absolutely not. In the time we have been going through for more than 44 years, we have always given everyone the opportunity to believe in any religion, and we oppose discrimination. We really do not want our land to be plagued by religious conflicts as racism and religious conflict is a great catastrophe that should not happen in the Kingdom of Cambodia.
[Elaboration 3]
This is the point, as I said above, that there should be no division in our Christian community. In this world, including Cambodia itself, all religions have different denominations, even Buddhism has Dhammayutika Nikaya and Mahanikaya. In Islam, there are many different denominations, and in our Christianity, there are different denominations too. As I have stated, racial and religious differences are not an obstacle to nation-building, it is easier for us within the framework of Christianity that no matter what denomination we belong to, we continue to live together through harmonization. Today, I have a great joy in the fact that the leaders of the Christian denomination are now leading a prayer that represents a whole multitude of different denominations. At this point, I am optimistic about the future of unity within the Christian denomination within the Kingdom of Cambodia.
[Elaboration 4]
This is also a point to facilitate discussion. For example, in today’s meeting, who will be the representative to give a speech if we have up to ten denominations? It would be inappropriate that we have up to ten representatives to give the talks while we have only one Jesus Christ. Therefore, I hope that you, the leaders and Christians, will understand and choose a representative for dialogue with other religions or for dialogue with the relevant authorities of the Royal Government. Hope you will be able to do this good work in the spirit of unity and understanding.
[Elaboration 5]
We have observed that in the past, our Christians have made significant contributions to human resource training, dealing with orphans and other issues. And once again, I would like to thank all the Christians who have contributed to the prevention of Covid-19, which has given us the opportunity to gather tens of thousands of people here today. I urge all to participate in activities related to the development of our country by carrying out all activities as much as possible. At the same time, we must continue to participate in maintaining peace, political stability, security, and social order through the implementation of safe village-commune policies to ensure that all religions, especially among our Christians, enjoy peace and prosperity all together.
[Elaboration 6]
Herewith, I am sorry that I will not be able to join you for the closing day. I heard, however, that the event has invited my son for the closing of the program. Please note whether the person who will be here for the closing is worthy to become the future Prime Minister of Cambodia?./.
